Every cafe that opens nowadays seems to have at least one pin-up dish, designed to look good when framed in Instagram.

At Paperboy in Concord, there’s no doubt it’s the lamington waffles – buttermilk batter hardened and coated in drips of dark chocolate, then run through a dust storm of dessicated coconut. It’s sandwiched with coconut parfait and crowned with double cream, fresh berry jam and plain fresh berries for an extra shot of fruit.

And at Dutch Smuggler in the Sydney CBD, it’s the “mi goreng” toastie. The appeal of that is an open-and-shut case (does it really need further explanation?), but the joy of two-minute noodles can only be improved upon with a double dose of melted cheese, a fried egg and this mysterious “magic sauce” that the cafe’s owners weren’t willing to declassify for me (what’s obvious is that it’s very very good). You can wash it down with Dutch Smuggler’s coffee-spiked ginger beer.

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About

Hi, I'm Lee Tran Lam. When not blogging with my mouth full, I'm usually writing, presenting Local Fidelity on FBi radio, making zines, producing podcasts or continually breaking promises about how I really am gonna get through my book pile one day.

All the good pictures on this blog are by photography ace (and patient boyfriend), Will Reichelt, (all the dodgy ones can be credited to me)!

The lovely banner is by friend and ultra-talented illustrator Grace Lee.

This site redesign was made possible by the next-level generosity and expertise of Daniel Boud, whose code-tinkering ways are only outranked by his seriously inspired way with a camera.